Thermodynamic management for integrated densified fluid-based textile treatment

ABSTRACT

A direct contact densified fluid-based thermodynamic treatment system uses the fluid to effect heat transfer as the working fluid in a separate yet linked treatment system. During certain phases of operation of a densified fluid-based treatment process wherein it is necessary to distill the fluid to maintain the purity of the densified fluid heat is imparted to the densified fluid raising it above the boiling point for the associated pressure within a vessel. A densified fluid-based refrigeration/thermodynamic system removes heat during the condensing cycle of a working densified fluid treatment system and use the removed heat for distillation of the same working fluid in the distillation vessel. The process does not require an external heating or cooling system, and thus can be entirely supported by a single machine using the same densified fluid during its operational phase.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application relates to and claims the benefit of priority toU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/305,069 filed 8 Mar. 2016which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the present invention relate, in general, tothermodynamic management systems and more particularly to thermodynamicmanagement of CO2-based article treatment.

Relevant Background

In general, thermodynamic systems are those that affect some sort ofenergy conversion or transfer. In power-generation systems the interestlies in the conversion of internal energy of hydrocarbon fuel moleculesor atomic energy of uranium or plutonium into mechanical energy that isultimately converted into electrical energy. In refrigeration systemskeeping an area cool by removing energy in the form of heat is thefocus. These systems involve a heat transfer fluid such as water or airor refrigerant, which is, in the case of power generation, circulatedthrough the system in a cycle.

In steam power plants and refrigeration systems the cycle is closedwhile in other thermodynamic systems, such as a jet engine, the cycle isopen. Many refrigeration systems utilize a vapor-compression cycle. Insuch a cycle, a circulating refrigerant enters a compressor as a vapor.The vapor is compressed at constant entropy (isentropic and adiabatic)so as to exit as a vapor at a higher temperature. This superheated vaporis then passed through a condenser where it cools (gives off heat) untilthe vapor condenses into a liquid by removing heat at a constantpressure forming a saturated liquid. Pressure is decreased through acontrolled expansion device resulting in a mixture of vapor and liquidat a significantly lower temperature. This vapor and liquid mixture thenpasses through an evaporator where the fluid is heated by passing itthrough warm air. Or said differently warm air is cooled by transferringthe heat from the air to the vapor and liquid mixture until therefrigerant is entirely a vapor. At that point the refrigerant vaporreturns to the compressor completing the cycle. As one of reasonableskill in the relevant art will appreciate there are many forms ofrefrigeration cycles. These can include vapor absorption cycle or a gascycle in which the working fluid does not change phase.

The ability to transfer heat in such a closed process depends, in alarge part, by the working fluid, that is, the refrigerant. Differentrefrigerants have different enthalpy values for a given state. Whendealing with one specific refrigerant the enthalpy values depend on thetemperatures and pressures in the warm and cold regions of the cycle.Moreover the surrounding temperature affects how well the refrigerationsystem is able to cool an enclosed region.

In each case the refrigerant, as the fluid used for heat transfer, isdifferent than that of the working fluid or medium that it affects. Forexample in the case of refrigeration systems, refrigerant or other likematerial, is used to reduce the air temperature of a space. Therefrigerant fluid remains in a closed system while the targetenvironment remains open. As can be appreciated this adds complexity andcost but it is impractical to close the working environment. For examplewe need to access the contents of a refrigerator or freezer and abuilding that is air-conditioned cannot exist as a closed system.However some systems that utilize external heating and cooling systemsare essentially closed systems as well.

One such system is a CO2-based treatment system. Mechanisms specific toone CO₂ process employ dense phase CO₂ as the principaltreatment/rinsing agent including a high-pressure gaseous rinse cycle inessentially a closed system. The CO₂ treatment methodology includes anenhanced rinsing and distillation process that is enabled by a properthermodynamic balance (heat transfer via an external refrigerationsystem). Such a system is designed with sufficient storage capacity toenable continuous, real time distillation of CO₂ to separatecontaminants producing pure, uncontaminated CO₂ throughout wash & rinsecycle(s).

The current CO2 treatment system however relies on an external heattransfer system to maintain a densified CO2. And while theaccomplishments of such a treatment system are by themselves noteworthythe added complexity and cost of an external heat transfer systems areproblematic.

A need therefore exists to craft a pseudo-closed system that utilizesthe same fluid both as a means to transfer heat and as the working fluidfor the environment in which it operates. The present inventionaddresses these and other deficiencies of the prior art.

Additional advantages and novel features of this invention shall be setforth in part in the description that follows, and in part will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the followingspecification or may be learned by the practice of the invention. Theadvantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of theinstrumentalities, combinations, compositions, and methods particularlypointed out in the appended claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and associated methodology for thermodynamic management of adensified fluid treatment system uses direct contact between the workingdensified fluid of the treatment system and densified fluid refrigerantof the heart management system. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, a densified fluid treatment system includes atreatment system having a densified fluid, a distillation vessel, astorage vessel closeably connected to the distillation vessel, atreatment vessel for treatment of an article with the densified fluid ata hyper-atmospheric pressure in which the treatment vessel is connectedto the storage vessel, and a fluid displacement device, connected to andinterposed between the treatment vessel and the distillation vessel. Thefluid displacement device (pump) is operable to transfer the densifiedfluid throughout the treatment system in a liquid state and/or in avapor state, and compress the vapor state of the densified fluid intothe liquid state of the densified fluid. In addition the distillationvessel continuously cleans the densified fluid used to treat thearticle.

The densified fluid treatment system of the present invention furtherincludes a heat management system that includes the densified fluid, acompressor, a distillation vessel heat exchanger connected to thecompressor by a distillation heat supply line, a storage vessel heatexchanger connected to the compressor by a compressor fill line whereininterposed between the storage vessel heat exchanger and the compressoris a compressor fill line heat exchanger. The heat management systemalso includes an expansion a valve interposed between the distillationvessel heat exchanger and the storage vessel heat exchanger that isconnected to the distillation vessel heat exchanger by a distillationheat return line and connected to the storage vessel heat exchanger by astorage fill line.

Lastly the densified fluid treatment system, according to one embodimentof the present invention includes a charge line closeably connecting thestorage vessel of the treatment system to the compressor fill line tomaintain volumetric content of the densified fluid within the heatmanagement system. Additional features of the invention described aboveinclude wherein the compressor fill line heat exchanger is a pluralityof heat exchangers configured in series or in parallel. In addition, thecompressor fill line heat exchanger can be an adiabatic heat exchangerand is operable to add heat to the heat management system. Likewise, abypass heat exchanger can be a plurality of heat exchangers configuredin series or parallel and can be connected to the distillation heatsupply line and the distillation heat return line to manage heat withinthe heat management system. In one embodiment of the present inventionthe bypass heat exchanger removes heat from the heat management system.

In other embodiments the compressor is a super critical adiabaticcompressor while in yet another embodiment the distillation vessel heatexchanger resides within the distillation vessel. Similarly the storagevessel heat exchanger can reside within the storage vessel. While manydifferent types of densified fluid can be used by the present inventionand are indeed contemplated, a principal densified fluid is carbondioxide.

A method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment system,according to another embodiment of the present invention begins withcombining the densified fluid treatment system with a heat managementsystem in which the densified fluid treatment system and the heatmanagement are fluidly coupled using a common densified fluid. Theprocess continues by managing heat exchange within the densified fluidtreatment system by the heat management system using the densified fluidof the densified fluid treatment system.

Additional features of the method described above, according to thepresent invention include maintaining the densified fluid within theheat management system with densified fluid from the densified fluidtreatment system. As with the previously described embodiment thedensified treatment system includes the commonly used densified fluid, adistillation vessel, a storage vessel closeably connected to thedistillation vessel, a treatment vessel for treatment an article withthe densified fluid at a hyper-atmospheric pressure wherein thetreatment vessel is connected to the storage vessel, and a fluiddisplacement device, connected to the treatment vessel and thedistillation vessel, operable to transfer the densified fluid throughoutthe treatment system in a liquid state and in a vapor state. Moreoverthe fluid displacement device can compress the vapor state of thedensified fluid into the liquid state of the densified fluid and whereinthe distillation vessel continuously cleans the densified fluidtreatment the article.

The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment systemuses, according to one embodiment a heat management system that includesthe densified fluid, a compressor, a distillation vessel heat exchangerconnected to the compressor by a distillation heat supply line, astorage vessel heat exchanger connected to the compressor by acompressor fill line wherein interposed between the storage vessel heatexchanger and the compressor is a compressor fill line heat exchanger,an expansion a valve interposed between the distillation vessel heatexchanger and the storage vessel heat exchanger and connected to thedistillation vessel heat exchanger by a distillation heat return lineand connected to the storage vessel heat exchanger by a storage fillline.

An additional step in the method for heat management using densifiedfluid for the treatment of articles, according to one embodiment of themethodology describe above, includes connecting the storage vessel tothe compressor fill line by a charge line so as to maintain volumetriccontent of the densified fluid within the heat management system.

Another embodiment of a densified fluid treatment system includes ahyper-atmospheric treatment system having a densified fluid, a treatmentvessel, a storage vessel, and a distillation vessel wherein thedensified fluid is continuously cleaned within the distillation vesselduring a treatment cycle. This treatment system is used in connectionwith a heat management system that includes a heat transfer fluid and aplurality of heat exchangers, wherein one or more of the plurality ofheat exchangers resides within each the distillation vessel and thestorage vessel and wherein the heat transfer fluid is the same densifiedfluid used in the hyper-atmospheric treatment system.

The features and advantages described in this disclosure and in thefollowing detailed description are not all-inclusive. Many additionalfeatures and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in therelevant art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims hereof.Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specificationhas been principally selected for readability and instructional purposesand may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe theinventive subject matter; reference to the claims is necessary todetermine such inventive subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned and other features and objects of the presentinvention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent,and the invention itself will be best understood, by reference to thefollowing description of one or more embodiments taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 presents a high level view of a densified fluid-based treatmentsystem as would be known to one skilled in the relevant art;

FIG. 2 shows, according to one embodiment of the present invention, ahigh-level block diagram of a closed loop densified fluid-basedtreatment system using a CO2 refrigerant system;

FIG. 3 presents a high level block diagram of one embodiment of thepresent invention of a densified fluid article treatment system with acontiguous (connected fluid) heating and cooling configuration;

FIGS. 4A and 4B present a thermodynamic conversion chart for CO2 asapplied to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of one method embodiment of a process for heatmanagement of a densified fluid treatment system.

The Figures depict embodiments of the present invention for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles of the invention described herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A direct contact densified fluid-based thermodynamic treatment system isdisclosed in which the fluid used to effect heat transfer is also theworking fluid of a separate treatment system. During certain phases ofoperation of a densified fluid-based treatment process, it is necessaryto distill the fluid to maintain the purity of the densified fluid. Thisprocess requires a means impart heat to the densified fluid raising itabove the boiling point for the associated pressure within a vessel.This heat normally comes from an external heat source (electric, steam,and the like). It then subsequently requires a heat rejection source toremove the latent heat to condense the densified fluid vapor back toliquid for use in the subsequent treatment cycle. This is again normallyaccomplished by an external cooling system (chill water, refrigerationunit, condensing system). Accordingly, the heat added to affect oneaspect of the system has to be subsequently removed in the next.

One embodiment of the present invention uses a densified fluid-basedrefrigeration/thermodynamic system to remove heat during the condensingcycle of a working densified fluid treatment system and use the removedheat for distillation of the same working fluid in the distillationvessel. The process of the present invention does not require anexternal heating or cooling system, and thus can be entirely supportedby a single machine using the same densified fluid during itsoperational phase. During non-operational periods such as thepressure-maintaining phase of the system, the heat that is removed fromthe storage vessel is rejected to the ambient atmosphere.

Embodiments of the present invention are hereafter described in detailwith reference to the accompanying Figures. Although the invention hasbeen described and illustrated with a certain degree of particularity,it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by wayof example and that numerous changes in the combination and arrangementof parts can be resorted to by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplaryembodiments of the present invention as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the embodiments described hereincan be made without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructionsare omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of theinvention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not forthe purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claimsand their equivalents.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic,parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations orvariations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error,measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those ofskill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effectthe characteristic was intended to provide.

Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, thesizes of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may beexaggerated for clarity.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface”includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

The term “distillation” is a widely used method for separating mixturesbased on differences in the conditions required to change the phase ofcomponents of the mixture. To separate a mixture of liquids, the liquidcan be heated to force components, which have different boiling points,into the gas phase. Simple distillation can be used when the boilingpoints of two liquids are significantly different from each other or toseparate liquids from solids or nonvolatile components. In simpledistillation, a mixture, in this case CO2, is heated to change the mostCO2 component from a liquid into vapor. The vapor rises and passes intoa condenser. Usually, the condenser is cooled to promote condensation ofthe vapor, which is collected as a pure form of CO2.

A “heat exchanger” is a device used to transfer heat between a solidobject and a fluid, or, between two or more fluids. There are threeprimary classifications of heat exchangers according to their flowarrangement. In parallel-flow heat exchangers, two fluids enter theexchanger at the same end, and travel in parallel to one another to theother side. In counter-flow heat exchangers the fluids enter theexchanger from opposite ends. The counter current design is the mostefficient, in that it can transfer the most heat from the heat(transfer) medium per unit mass due to the fact that the averagetemperature difference along any unit length is higher. In a cross-flowheat exchanger, the fluids travel roughly perpendicular to one anotherthrough the exchanger.

A materials “heat capacity” or “thermal capacity”, C, is the amount ofheat required to change its temperature by one degree. It is the ratioof heat energy transferred to an object to the resulting increase intemperature. Therefore a substance's heat capacity is a measure of itsability to carry heat. For example air has a low heat capacity whilewater is reasonably high.

“Adiabatic” is understood to refer to a process that occurs withouttransfer of heat or matter between a thermodynamic system and itssurroundings. In an adiabatic process, energy is transferred only aswork and not as heat. For example, the compression of a gas within acylinder of an engine is assumed to occur so rapidly that on the timescale of the compression process, little of the system's energy can betransferred out as heat to the surroundings. Even though the cylindersare not insulated and are quite conductive, that process is idealized tobe adiabatic. The same can be said to be true for the expansion processof such a system. Adiabatic heating occurs when the pressure of a gas isincreased from work done on it by its surroundings, e.g., a pistoncompressing a gas contained within an adiabatic cylinder. This findspractical application in diesel engines which rely on the lack of quickheat dissipation during their compression stroke to elevate the fuelvapor temperature sufficiently to ignite it. Adiabatic cooling occurswhen the pressure on an adiabatically isolated system is decreased,allowing it to expand, thus causing it to do work on its surroundings.When the pressure applied on a parcel of air is reduced, the air in theparcel is allowed to expand; as the volume increases, the temperaturefalls as its internal energy decreases.

“Densified” is a past tense participle of the word densify, meaning tomake more dense or compress. A densified fluid is a fluid undersufficient pressure such that the fluid exists in a supercritical state.A supercritical fluid is one which the temperature and the pressure ofthe fluid are above its critical point where distinct liquid and gasphases do not exist. Supercritical fluids can effuse through solids likea gas and dissolve materials like a liquid.

The present invention involves the use of densified fluids or substancesin a supercritical state. In most instances the pressure required toestablish such a state is significantly greater than atmosphericpressure. Atmospheric pressure relates to the pressure of the atmosphereat sea level. “Hyper-Atmospheric” pressure is therefore pressure inexcess (significantly greater) of atmospheric pressure. Standardatmospheric pressure for 1 atmosphere (1 atm) is 29.92 inHG or 14.696psi. By comparison hyper-atmospheric pressure required to place CO2 in asupercritical state is 72.9 atm or 1071 psi.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the specification andrelevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions orconstructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

It will be also understood that when an element is referred to as being“on,” “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”,“mounted” etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to,connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element orintervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an elementis referred to as being, for example, “directly on,” “directly attached”to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directlycontacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present.It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that referencesto a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another featuremay have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.

Spatially relative terms, such as “under,” “below,” “lower,” “over,”“upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description todescribe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) orfeature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that thespatially relative terms are intended to encompass differentorientations of a device in use or operation in addition to theorientation depicted in the figures. For example, if a device in thefigures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” otherelements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements orfeatures. Thus, the exemplary term “under” can encompass both anorientation of “over” and “under”. The device may be otherwise oriented(rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relativedescriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Similarly, the terms“upwardly,” “downwardly,” “vertical,” “horizontal” and the like are usedherein for the purpose of explanation only unless specifically indicatedotherwise.

Currently CO2-based treatment systems require a distiller to purify theCO2 used in the treatment process. As mentioned, to do so heat must beadded to the CO2 to distill the fluid. FIG. 1 presents a high level viewof a CO2-based treatment system as would be known to one of reasonableskill in the relevant art. In such a treatment system one or morearticles to be cleaned are placed in a treatment vessel (150) that uses,in this example, a densified fluid, such as densified CO2, to removeparticulates and contaminants. As one of reasonable skill in therelevant art can appreciate fluid exiting the treatment vessel carrieswith it contaminants and unwanted materials from the articles. By way ofreference, liquid CO2 is a natural solvent to many petroleum basedproducts. Articles that are soiled by oil and similar substances can beeffectively treated and cleaned through emersion and agitation withliquid CO2. Upon contact with the soiled articles the liquid CO2 carrieswith it impurities originating in the articles. That fluid is thereafterpurified in a distillation vessel 120 and then returned via a pump 115to a storage vessel 110 for reuse within the treatment vessel 150.

A distillation process within the distillation vessel 120 is used topurify the CO2. Used CO2 enters the distillation vessel 120 and issubjected to heat from a distillation vessel heat exchanger 130. The CO2vaporizes releasing contaminants. The purified vapor is passed to asecond heat exchanger 140 that removes the heat added in thedistillation process enabling the CO2 vapor to condense. Once cooled andreturned to a liquid state the now purified CO2 is retained in a storagevessel 110 for later use within the treatment vessel 150.

The overall CO2 treatment system is a closed system. That is, the fluidused to clean the articles is recycled, contiguously purified and usedagain. Ideally no new CO2 needs to be added or used CO2 removed from thesystem.

The heat added to the distillation process is delivered via a typicalboiler 135. In many instances heat is added to a heat transfer fluid(refrigerant) such as water forming steam and passed to a distillationvessel heat exchanger 130. The heat from the steam transfers to theliquid CO2 causing the CO2 liquid to vaporize and the steam to condense.The condensate (water) is pumped via a condensate pump 138 back to theboiler where the cycle begins anew. One of reasonable skill in therelevant art will appreciate other heat transfer fluids can be used ascan multiple heat exchanger designs.

The second heat exchanger 140, shown in FIG. 1 operates similarly toremove heat from the purified CO2 working fluid. To effect the treatmentprocess the purified CO2 vapor needs to be condensed to its liquid form.To do so heat, added during the purification/distillation process, mustbe removed. One skilled in the art can appreciate that the adding andsubsequent removal of heat to CO2 by two separate independent systems isnot necessarily an efficient thermodynamic process.

One embodiment of the present system uses the heat released from thecondensation of the CO2 vapor as it enters the clean CO2 storage vessel110 to heat (vaporize) the contaminated CO2 entering the distillationvessel 120, using the CO2 working fluid as the heat transfer fluid orrefrigerant. FIG. 2 shows, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention, a high-level block diagram of a densified fluid basedtreatment system using the densified treatment fluid as refrigerant inthe heating/cooling system.

A densified fluid treatment system includes a treatment vessel 150interposed between a distillation vessel 120 and a densified fluidstorage vessel 110. In line between the treatment vessel 150 and thedistillation vessel 120 is a liquid pump/vapor compressor 115 to effectmovement of the densified fluid throughout the treatment system.

The present invention shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment, includes aclosed densified fluid heat pump system to control the heat and state ofa common densified fluid-based article treatment system. In anotherembodiment of the present invention the common densified fluid can beR744 (CO2) As with the systems previously described, heat is added tothe distillation vessel 120 to purify the densified fluid used in thetreatment process within the treatment vessel 150. The vaporized, andtherefore purified, densified fluid is thereafter returned to the cleandensified fluid storage vessel 110 via densified fluid return line 215.In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 a cleandensified fluid storage vessel heat exchanger 280 is attached to, orresides within the clean densified fluid storage vessel 110, and removesheat from the purified densified fluid and conveys it to thedistillation vessel heat exchanger 130, via a compressor fill line 275and the distillation heat supply line 295, residing within, or attachedto, the distillation vessel 120. The densified fluid heating processhowever must be managed, as the heat removed from the clean densifiedfluid storage vessel 110 may be insufficient to meet the needs of thedensified fluid purification process taking place in the distillationvessel 120.

One aspect addressed by the present invention is the need to compressthe heat transfer fluid within the heat management system to asupercritical pressure and temperature using a super critical adiabaticcompressor 220. The heated densified fluid or refrigerant is introducedinto the distillation vessel 120 through the distillation heat supplyline 295 via a distillation vessel heat exchanger 130. In the presentinvention the heat is managed using additional heat exchangers 210, 260in series or parallel. Thus in some instances (as described below)additional heat can be added using one or more additional adiabaticcompressor fill line heat exchangers 260 (arranged in series or parallelbetween the storage vessel heat exchanger 280 and the super criticalcompressor 220) or removed using one or more bypass heat exchangers 210.In one version of the invention a bypass heat exchanger 210 is anair/heat exchanger (arranged in series or parallel between thedistillation heat return line 235 and the distillation heat supply line295). By doing so a precise amount of heat in a closed system can bemaintained. One of reasonable skill in the relevant art will recognizethat the number and configuration of heat exchangers can be adjusted asnecessary. And when the treatment system is non-operational the bypassheat exchanger(s) 210 can be used to manage the heat in the heatmanagement system.

Another function of the additional adiabatic compressor fill line heatexchanger(s) 260 is to ensure that the state of the densified fluidbeing introduced to the super critical compressor 220 is gas and notfluid. Accordingly if the densified fluid in the heat management systemcoming out of the clean densified fluid storage vessel 110 is liquid ora liquid/vapor combination, additional heat can be added at thecompressor fill line heat exchanger(s) 260 to make sure that thedensified fluid is a vapor state when reaching the super criticalcompressor 220. Note that the compressor fill line heat exchanger iscoupled with the compressor fill line 275 and the distillation heatreturn line 235.

Fluid coming from the distillation vessel heat exchanger 130 in thedistillation vessel 120 and traveling to the clean densified fluidstorage vessel 110 via the distillation heat return line 235 passesthrough the compressor fill line heat exchanger 260 and goes through atrans-critical expansion valve 250. This expansion valve 250 enables oneside of the densified fluid to be above the critical temperature andpressure and the other side to be below the densified fluid criticaltemperature and pressure. This expansion value 250 is, in oneembodiment, a single stage system as opposed to a super critical stageand a subcritical stage to drop pressure.

The working heat transfer densified fluid of heat management system ofthe present invention is the same densified fluid used to clean articlesin the densified fluid article treatment system. When additional fluidis needed within the heat management system, clean densified fluid fromthe clean densified fluid storage vessel 110 can be added to the heatmanagement system via a supplemental make-up or charge line 272. Thefluid interaction between treatment system and the heat managementsystem is bridged by charge line valve 270 placed on the charge line272. Thus as the heat transfer densified fluid or refrigerant isdepleted the present invention can maintain the content of the heatmanagement system with the densified fluid used within the treatmentsystem.

Another embodiment of the present systems forms an “open” treatment/heatmanagement system in which the heat management system using the commondensified fluid and the article treatment system are contiguous. Notethat the combined densified treatment system and heat management systemremains closed with respect to the surrounding environment but theinteraction of the heat transfer portion of the treatment process ischaracteristically open. FIG. 3 presents a high level block diagram ofone embodiment of the present invention of a CO2 article treatmentsystem with a contiguous heating and cooling system.

FIG. 3 presents a densified fluid-based heat management system for adensified fluid treatment process in which cold purified densified fluidused within the heat management system is directly introduced 310 to theclean densified fluid storage vessel 110 to control the temperature andpressure of the clean densified fluid storage vessel 110. As with thesystem described above, the densified fluid used in the heat managementprocess is the same fluid used in the densified fluid-based articletreatment process. As pure densified fluid leaves the distillationvessel 120, heat can be added back into or removed from the distillationprocess using one or more bypass heat exchanger(s) 210.

Heat is exchanged efficiently to maintain the working conditions of thestorage vessel 110. In this example, the clean densified fluid storagevessel heat exchanger 280 of the prior embodiment is replaced by adirect contact mixing system 310 in which the cooled densified fluidcoming from the trans-critical expansion valve 250 is released directlyinto the clean densified fluid storage vessel 110 to controltemperature. As with the prior design one or more compressor fill lineheat exchangers 260 are connected to the densified fluid return line ata juncture 320 between the compressor fill line 385 and the densifiedfluid return line.

FIGS. 4A and 4B present a thermodynamic conversion chart and associatedthermodynamic schematic for CO2 as applied to the embodiment of thepresent invention shown in FIG. 3 in which the exchange of heat withinthe clean densified fluid storage vessel 110 is via a direct contactmixing system 310. One aspect of the present invention is that bycontrolling the transfer of heat during the distillation process theamount of densified CO2 transferred between the distillation vessel 120and the clean densified fluid storage vessel 110 can be effectivelymanaged.

FIG. 4B is a thermodynamic heat transfer schematic of a CO2 fluid-basedheat management system for a CO2 fluid treatment process in which coldpurified densified CO2 used within the heat management system isdirectly introduced 310 to the clean densified fluid storage vessel 110to control the temperature and pressure of the clean densified fluidstorage vessel 110. One of reasonable skill in the relevant art willappreciate that the schematic shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B represent thetransfer of heat not fluid.

In this embodiment of the present invention in reference to FIG. 4B anadiabatic compressor fill line heat exchanger 260 is fluidly coupled tothe heat management system and the article treatment system at juncture320. Proceeding clockwise from the compressor fill line heat exchanger260 at point 1 the heat within the fluid passes through an adiabaticcompressor 220 at point 2 to arrive at the distillation vessel heatexchanger 130 at point 3. Note that the distillation vessel heatexchanger 130 resides within the distillation vessel 120 (not shown).From that point heat within the fluid moves back towards the compressorfill line heat exchanger 260 via a bypass heat exchanger 210 that canadd or subtract heat as necessary. In the depiction shown in FIG. 4B thebypass heat exchanger 210 is shown in line with the distillation vesselheat exchanger 130. One of reasonable skill in the relevant art willappreciate that the depiction of arrangement of the bypass heatexchanger in FIG. 4B merely shows the addition/subtraction of heat andnot the physical configuration of the device. Indeed the bypass heatexchanger 210 can be configured so as to be in parallel or in serieswith the distillation vessel heat exchanger 130.

As the heat within the fluid passes through the bypass heat exchanger210 toward the compressor fill line heat exchanger 260 it is directed toan expansion value 250 at point 5 and eventually to the direct contactmixing system 310 within the clean densified fluid storage vessel 120 atpoint 6. The compressor fill line heat exchanger 260 acts as a heatmanagement system with respect to heat transferred from the heatmanagement system to the treatment system. From the compressor fill lineheat exchanger 260 the fluid may return to the heat management system orbe used within the article treatment system as necessary. Heat withinthe heat management system is transferred to the treatment system by wayof the distillation vessel heat exchanger 130 within the distillationvessel 120. The now cooler densified fluid in the heat management systeminteracts with heated vapor from the distillation vessel 120 to removethe heat and aid in condensation. Additional heat is released by thedirect contact mixing system 310 within the clean densified fluidstorage vessel 110 at point 6.

FIG. 4A presents the same representation of the flow of heatillustrating an internal heat transfer process by the compressor fillline heat exchanger 260 at point 1. Heat added to the densified fluid aspart of the distillation process is extracted within the compressor fillline heat exchanger 260 and the direct contact mixing system 310 andadded to the heat transfer fluid within the heat management system. Atpoints 2 and 3 of FIG. 4A heat is imparted from the heat managementsystem to the article treatment system. The imparted heat is returned tothe heat management system at point 1 before the fluid reaches theexpansion value 250 at point 6 and finally the direct contact mixingsystem 310 at point 6.

The present invention presents a system wherein the densified fluid usedas a refrigerant is the same as the working fluid in a densified fluidtreatment system. The refrigerant, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention, is used to cool and heat densified fluid and indeedthe same densified fluid is supplied from a common reservoir. Thepresent treatment system uses densified fluid (in one embodiment CO2) toremove contaminants and particulate from various articles and to manageheat transfer during the treatment process. The present inventionremoves the need for an external heating and cooling system by using theworking fluid as the refrigerant and working fluid. This results anenergy savings in excess of 30% over conventional systems.

Included in the description are flowcharts depicting examples of themethodology which may be used manage heat in a densified fluid treatmentsystem. In the following description, it will be understood that eachblock of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto acomputer or other programmable apparatus to produce a machine such thatthe instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable apparatus to function in a particular manner suchthat the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce anarticle of manufacture including instruction means that implement thefunction specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computerprogram instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to beperformed in the computer or on the other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide stepsfor implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the flowchart illustrations support combinationsof means for performing the specified functions and combinations ofsteps for performing the specified functions. It will also be understoodthat each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based computer systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of one method embodiment of a process for heatmanagement of a densified fluid treatment system. The process begins 505with combining 510 and fluidly connecting a densified fluid treatmentsystem with a heat management system. The two systems are fluidlycoupled 540 using a common densified fluid such that the working fluidof the densified fluid treatment system and the refrigerant of the heatmanagement system are the same fluid and the systems are congruent.

With the two systems fluidly coupled, the process manages 580 heatexchanges between the densified fluid treatment system and the heatmanagement system using the common densified fluid. One of reasonableskill in the relevant art will appreciate that the proposed combinationof a densified fluid treatment system and heat management system may notbe 100% efficient. Indeed supplement sources of heat may be added (orheat removed) to the densified fluid via the bypass heat exchangers.Nonetheless, the present invention enables the densified fluid treatmentsystem and the heat management system use the same densified fluid tonot only treat the articles of interest but to manage heat requirementsas the fluid is continuously distilled and condensed to maintain itspurity.

Some portions of this specification are presented in terms of algorithmsor symbolic representations of operations on data stored as bits orbinary digital signals within a machine memory (e.g., a computermemory). These algorithms or symbolic representations are examples oftechniques used by those of ordinary skill in the data processing artsto convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. Asused herein, an “algorithm” is a self-consistent sequence of operationsor similar processing leading to a desired result. In this context,algorithms and operations involve the manipulation of informationelements. Typically, but not necessarily, such elements may take theform of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of beingstored, accessed, transferred, combined, compared, or otherwisemanipulated by a machine. It is convenient at times, principally forreasons of common usage, to refer to such signals using words such as“data,” “content,” “bits,” “values,” “elements,” “symbols,”“characters,” “terms,” “numbers,” “numerals,” “words”, or the like.These specific words, however, are merely convenient labels and are tobe associated with appropriate information elements.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using wordssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,”“presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions orprocesses of a machine (e.g., a computer) that manipulates or transformsdata represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical)quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or othermachine components that receive, store, transmit, or displayinformation.

It will also be understood by those familiar with the art, that theinvention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, theparticular naming and division of the modules, managers, functions,systems, engines, layers, features, attributes, methodologies, and otheraspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms thatimplement the invention or its features may have different names,divisions, and/or formats. Furthermore, as will be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the relevant art, the modules, managers, functions,systems, engines, layers, features, attributes, methodologies, and otheraspects of the invention can be implemented as software, hardware,firmware, or any combination of the three. Of course, wherever acomponent of the present invention is implemented as software, thecomponent can be implemented as a script, as a standalone program, aspart of a larger program, as a plurality of separate scripts and/orprograms, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as a kernelloadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and any other wayknown now or in the future to those of skill in the art of computerprogramming. Additionally, the present invention is in no way limited toimplementation in any specific programming language, or for any specificoperating system or environment. Accordingly, the disclosure of thepresent invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

In a preferred embodiment, portions of the present invention can beimplemented in software. Software programming code which embodies thepresent invention is typically accessed by a microprocessor fromlong-term, persistent storage media of some type, such as a flash driveor hard drive. The software programming code may be embodied on any of avariety of known media for use with a data processing system, such as adiskette, hard drive, CD-ROM, or the like. The code may be distributedon such media, or may be distributed from the memory or storage of onecomputer system over a network of some type to other computer systemsfor use by such other systems. Alternatively, the programming code maybe embodied in the memory of the device and accessed by a microprocessorusing an internal bus. The techniques and methods for embodying softwareprogramming code in memory, on physical media, and/or distributingsoftware code via networks are well known and will not be furtherdiscussed herein.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures and the like that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced with othercomputer system configurations, including hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and thelike. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

An exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a generalpurpose computing device such as the form of a conventional personalcomputer, a personal communication device or the like, including aprocessing unit, a system memory, and a system bus that couples varioussystem components, including the system memory to the processing unit.The system bus may be any of several types of bus structures including amemory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory generallyincludes read-only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). A basicinput/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help totransfer information between elements within the personal computer, suchas during start-up, is stored in ROM. The personal computer may furtherinclude a hard disk drive for reading from and writing to a hard disk, amagnetic disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable magneticdisk. The hard disk drive and magnetic disk drive are connected to thesystem bus by a hard disk drive interface and a magnetic disk driveinterface, respectively. The drives and their associatedcomputer-readable media provide non-volatile storage of computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules and other datafor the personal computer. Although the exemplary environment describedherein employs a hard disk and a removable magnetic disk, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computerreadable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer mayalso be used in the exemplary operating environment.

While there have been described above the principles of the presentinvention in conjunction with a densified fluid heat management system,it is to be clearly understood that the foregoing description is madeonly by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of theinvention. Particularly, it is recognized that the teachings of theforegoing disclosure will suggest other modifications to those personsskilled in the relevant art. Such modifications may involve otherfeatures that are already known per se and which may be used instead ofor in addition to features already described herein. Although claimshave been formulated in this application to particular combinations offeatures, it should be understood that the scope of the disclosureherein also includes any novel feature or any novel combination offeatures disclosed either explicitly or implicitly or any generalizationor modification thereof which would be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art, whether or not such relates to the same invention aspresently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any orall of the same technical problems as confronted by the presentinvention. The Applicant hereby reserves the right to formulate newclaims to such features and/or combinations of such features during theprosecution of the present application or of any further applicationderived therefrom.

1. A densified fluid treatment system, comprising: a treatment system,wherein the treatment system includes a densified fluid, a distillationvessel, a storage vessel closeably connected to the distillation vessel,a treatment vessel for treatment of an article with the densified fluidat a hyper-atmospheric pressure and wherein the treatment vessel isconnected to the storage vessel, and a fluid displacement device,connected to and interposed between the treatment vessel and thedistillation vessel, operable to transfer the densified fluid throughoutthe treatment system in a liquid state and/or in a vapor state, andcompress the vapor state of the densified fluid into the liquid state ofthe densified fluid and wherein the distillation vessel continuouslycleans the densified fluid used to treat the article; a heat managementsystem, wherein the heat management system includes the densified fluid,a compressor, a distillation vessel heat exchanger connected to thecompressor by a distillation heat supply line, a storage vessel heatexchanger connected to the compressor by a compressor fill line whereininterposed between the storage vessel heat exchanger and the compressoris a compressor fill line heat exchanger, and an expansion a valveinterposed between the distillation vessel heat exchanger and thestorage vessel heat exchanger and connected to the distillation vesselheat exchanger by a distillation heat return line and connected to thestorage vessel heat exchanger by a storage fill line; and a charge linecloseably connecting the storage vessel of the treatment system to thecompressor fill line to maintain volumetric content of the densifiedfluid within the heat management system.
 2. The densified fluidtreatment system of claim 1, wherein the compressor fill line heatexchanger is a plurality of heat exchangers configured in series.
 3. Thedensified fluid treatment system of claim 1, wherein the compressor fillline heat exchanger is a plurality of heat exchangers configured inparallel.
 4. The densified fluid treatment system of claim 1, whereinthe compressor fill line heat exchanger is an adiabatic heat exchanger.5. The densified fluid treatment system of claim 1, wherein thecompressor fill line heat exchanger is operable to add heat to the heatmanagement system.
 6. The densified fluid treatment system of claim 1,further comprising a bypass heat exchanger connected to the distillationheat supply line and the distillation heat return line and operable tomanage heat within the heat management system.
 7. The densified fluidtreatment system of claim 8, wherein the bypass heat exchanger removesheat from the heat management system.
 8. The densified fluid treatmentsystem of claim 8, wherein the bypass heat exchanger is a plurality ofheat exchangers configured in series.
 9. The densified fluid treatmentsystem of claim 8, wherein the bypass heat exchanger is a plurality ofheat exchangers configured in parallel.
 10. The densified fluidtreatment system of claim 1, wherein the compressor is a super criticaladiabatic compressor.
 11. The densified fluid treatment system of claim1, wherein the distillation vessel heat exchanger resides within thedistillation vessel.
 12. The densified fluid treatment system of claim1, wherein the storage vessel heat exchanger resides within the storagevessel.
 13. The densified fluid treatment system of claim 1, wherein thedensified fluid is carbon dioxide.
 14. A method for heat management in adensified fluid treatment system, the method comprising: combining adensified fluid treatment system with a heat management system whereinthe densified fluid treatment system and the heat management are fluidlycoupled using a common densified fluid; and managing heat exchangewithin the densified fluid treatment system by the heat managementsystem using the densified fluid of the densified fluid treatmentsystem.
 15. The method for heat management in a densified fluidtreatment system according to claim 14, further comprising maintaining avolume of the densified fluid within the heat management system withdensified fluid from the densified fluid treatment system.
 16. Themethod for heat management in a densified fluid treatment systemaccording to claim 14, wherein the densified fluid is carbon dioxide.17. The method for heat management in a densified fluid treatment systemaccording to claim 14, wherein the densified treatment system includes,the densified fluid, a distillation vessel, a storage vessel closeablyconnected to the distillation vessel, a treatment vessel for treatmentan article with the densified fluid at a hyper-atmospheric pressure andwherein the treatment vessel is connected to the storage vessel, and afluid displacement device, connected to the treatment vessel and thedistillation vessel, operable to transfer the densified fluid throughoutthe treatment system in a liquid state and in a vapor state, andcompress the vapor state of the densified fluid into the liquid state ofthe densified fluid and wherein the distillation vessel continuouslycleans the densified fluid treatment the article.
 18. The method forheat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to claim15, wherein the heat management system includes the densified fluid acompressor, a distillation vessel heat exchanger connected to thecompressor by a distillation heat supply line, a storage vessel heatexchanger connected to the compressor by a compressor fill line whereininterposed between the storage vessel heat exchanger and the compressoris a compressor fill line heat exchanger, an expansion a valveinterposed between the distillation vessel heat exchanger and thestorage vessel heat exchanger and connected to the distillation vesselheat exchanger by a distillation heat return line and connected to thestorage vessel heat exchanger by a storage fill line.
 19. The method forheat management in a densified fluid treatment system according to claim14, connecting the storage vessel to the compressor fill line by acharge line to maintain volumetric content of the densified fluid withinthe heat management system.
 20. A densified fluid treatment system,comprising: a hyper-atmospheric treatment system including a densifiedfluid, a treatment vessel, a storage vessel, and a distillation vesselwherein the densified fluid is continuously cleaned within thedistillation vessel during a treatment cycle; and a heat managementsystem for heat management of the hyper-atmospheric treatment system,the heat management system including a heat transfer fluid, and aplurality of heat exchangers, wherein one or more of the plurality ofheat exchangers resides within each the distillation vessel and thestorage vessel and wherein the heat transfer fluid is the densifiedfluid of the hyper-atmospheric treatment system.